


Line Without a Hook

by nowhere_dawn_death_phan



Series: I’ll Take Your Place (If The Stars Don’t Mind) [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate version of S2 E6 - Reset, Character Death, F/M, I wrote this in literally two hours whoops, Not Beta Read, Spoilers for Reset, fic is also loosely based on said song, sorry about that one, title is from a Ricky Montgomery song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:46:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27514042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowhere_dawn_death_phan/pseuds/nowhere_dawn_death_phan
Summary: Toshiko Sato. Genius. Beautiful. Selfless. Owen really doesn’t know what he’d do without her. Not that he’d ever have cause to find out...right?
Relationships: Jack Harkness & Gwen Cooper, Jack Harkness & Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness & Martha Jones, Jack Harkness & Owen Harper, Jack Harkness & Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper & Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper & Ianto Jones, Owen Harper/Toshiko Sato, Toshiko Sato & Gwen Cooper, toshiko sato & ianto jones
Series: I’ll Take Your Place (If The Stars Don’t Mind) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012209
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	Line Without a Hook

“Now let’s not be stupid, okay?” Tosh’s voice is gentle, calming, one hand extended out towards Copley as she steps between him and Martha.  
Owen tenses a little but forces himself to relax. It’s Tosh. If anyone can diffuse a situation like this, it’ll be her. He watches Jack beckon Martha over to him. Copley’s gun doesn’t waver from Tosh, and Owen tries to ignore the fact they’ve effectively just swapped one hostage for another, and an infinitely more valuable one at that.  
“Good.” Tosh smiles, nods, lets her hand drop a little. Owen can’t take his eyes off her, off that smile. She looks across at him, and she must be able to see in his eyes that he’s worried about her because that smile grows. It’s comforting, like she knows that everything is going to be okay. Like she’s telling him off for having so little faith in her.  
She looks back at Copley, still smiling. “We’re both rational people, aren’t we? We’re both scientists. I know that you don’t want to hurt any-”  
A gunshot splits the night. Loud. Chilling. There’s the sound of distant screaming echoing in his ears, primal and agonising and so full of terror and pain that it chills his blood. It isn’t until he tries to take a breath that he realises the noise is coming from him. He’s the one screaming.

Ianto’s arms are around his body before he can react, pinning him against his chest, holding him back, stopping him from moving forwards. Owen’s still screaming, he’s aware now that the sound is coming from him but he can’t seem to stop it all the same. He thrashes against Ianto’s grip, kicking and squirming and tearing at his fingers with a sort of frantic horror that he can’t remember feeling in a very long time but Ianto’s bigger than him, taller and stronger and Owen’s got no chance of overpowering him. He wants to scream at Ianto, that he needs to let go of him, that he needs to let him help, doesn’t he understand that? Doesn’t he know what’s just happened? But he can’t remember how to form words anymore, all he can do is scream.  
He can see Copley, his gun still held out. There’s no regret, no remorse in his eyes. He turns his gun back to Martha, ready to fire again without so much as a second of hesitation and Owen wants to kill him, wants to tear his head from his shoulders and watch him bleed out onto the asphalt. There’s another gunshot, Copley falls, and Ianto finally releases him, letting him stagger forwards. Owen’s scream catches in his throat and tears, breaking off into something that isn’t a sob so much as a noise of pure defeat.

His knees hit the pavement but he barely notices how much it stings, pulling Tosh up against his chest, his arms around her, her head propped against his shoulder. One of them is shaking, he doesn’t know if it's her or him or maybe both of them but he can feel it. There’s nothing he can do. He knows that. He knew it the second that bastard pulled the trigger. He can’t do anything for her and he knows that and he’s hoping that some small part of her doesn’t, but she will. She’s smarter than that. She’s always been smarter than that and that’s why this hurts him so badly.  
Tosh tries to speak, or at least to make a sound, the blood gurgling in her throat, and it’s a desperate wounded sound that rips right through him. He shifts her against him, his right hand going to her hair, tracing circles on the back of her neck with his thumb because that’s all that he can do for her. All he can do is hold her and soothe her and make it as okay as something like this can be.  
“It’s okay.” The lie comes to him easily, these sorts of lies always do, and he doesn’t know if he loves that or hates it. “It’s okay, you’re okay, I’m here. I’m right here, okay? I am right here and I am going to stay here, yeah?”  
Her hand tightens into a fist and he knows that it's probably just some sort of reflex but he takes her hand anyway, links his fingers through hers and lifts it to his cheek, stroking the back of her hand. “I’m here. It’s okay, Tosh. It’s alright, everything’s alright.”  
She’s still smiling. It’s only a half-smile now, more absent than not, but she’s still smiling. Of course she is, of fucking course she is. Of course she’s still being the strong one, because that’s exactly the kind of selfless person that she is. So bloody selfless that she’ll throw her life down for someone that she barely knows without thinking about what it’ll do to the rest of them, so bloody selfless because even now she’s smiling like she wants him to know that everything is going to be okay rather than letting herself feel whatever it is that she must be feeling right now. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, he’s never been so fucking mad at somebody in his entire life. How dare she. How fucking dare she.  
“I’m sorry.” It’s barely more than a whisper, something muttered into the top of her hair so that the others don’t hear it. They haven’t approached. He can hear them moving around, can see Martha in the corner of his vision bending over the body of Aaron fucking Copley, can hear a soft sobbing from somewhere off behind him that he already knows is coming from Gwen, but they haven’t approached. Nobody else has spoken a word, nobody has tried to take her from him and he’s more grateful for that than any of them will ever be able to know.  
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry we never got that date, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that we missed each other. I’m sorry that I can’t save you, Tosh. I’m so fucking sorry. I love you, Toshiko Sato. I love you, and I’m really gonna miss you and you have no idea how angry I want to be with you right now but I can’t.” The words are falling before he can even process what he’s saying and he doesn’t know if she can still hear him, and part of him hopes not because god if the last thing she ever hears is him breaking down then he’ll never be able to forgive himself for that. 

A hand touches his back and he jerks away from it, jostling Tosh in his arms. Gwen sinks down next to him, and he knows it's Gwen because her hair tickles his cheek as she puts her head on his shoulder, leaning into him. She touches Tosh’s knee gently and Owen lays his hand over hers, squeezing. Ianto approaches from his other side, kneeling down beside him and he puts his hand on Owen’s shoulder, gripping so tightly that it hurts.  
The four of them, three of them, no, four, four of them because Tosh still counts, Tosh will always count, the four of them huddle together on the cold concrete, tucked in together like scared little children during a thunderstorm, waiting for the clouds to part and the rain to pass and the sunrise to make everything okay again. Owen doesn’t know where Jack is and Owen doesn’t care. Jack can fuck right off, back with Martha and that fucking Doctor of his, Jack can disappear and never show his fucking face again. Jack fucking Harkness and his fucking immortality, his fucking stupid unkillable fucking face. There was no need. There was no need for Tosh to have been the one in front of the gun, not when the price is that high, not when Jack can’t be killed. No need. No fucking need. Just somebody else dying because of him, because of Torchwood. Fucking Torchwood. This fucking stupid job and the fucking stupid aliens and the holes in space and time and the whatever the fuck else gets thrown at him seven days a week. And now he’s all alone. Gwen can go back home to Rhys, and Ianto can go to Jack but he’s only ever turned to Tosh. In his third week, when he broke down over Katie, it was Tosh that he turned to. After Suzie died, it was Tosh that sat up all night with him, forcing him to watch shitty reality tv that they both got a little bit too invested in. After Diane left and Mark had been killed and Gwen was being arsey over everything that had happened, it was Tosh that offered to take him out for a drink. After Mary and Tommy, he’d gone to check on her, to make sure she was okay, to return the favour. 

He can’t do that tonight. He has to go back to an empty apartment and resist the urge to dial the number that he dials every time he ends a shift with somebody's blood on his hands. He has to wake up tomorrow to the first new day without Toshiko Sato, to go to work to an empty desk and one less coffee mug set out on the table in the boardroom, one less order on the takeout receipt, one less person to annoy when he’s bored, one less person to laugh at his jokes and frown when he says the wrong thing at the wrong time just to get a reaction out of her.  
Gwen must spot the look on his face because she bumps his shoulder gently. “Go ahead. It’s okay.” The words are just a whisper, like she’s scared to shatter this illusion of peace, like she’s scared that everything will collapse if she speaks too loudly or moves too quickly. He knows what she means.  
Owen Harper touches his forehead to Tosh’s gently, and lets the world fall down around him.


End file.
